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THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE SS
June, 1942
Let us replace a defensive warfare against selfishness with an active offensive of loving. Let us put our love in action toward the Jew, the Gentile, and the church of God (1 Cor. 10:32). L LOVE tow ard THE CHURCH OF GOD. (Let us consider this classification first, in order that the other two groups. may be reached t h r o u g h them.) “The. world is dying for a little bit of love.” The’ testimony of unbeliev ers concerning the early church was, “Behold how they love one another.” How much the world needs such a demonstration today! It is never optional to obey a command, and Christ gave us a command to love one another as a badge of discipleship (John 13:34, 35; 15:12, 17). Friction and ill feeling among Christians should be dissolved (Matt. 7:3; 1 John 4:7). Let there be the willing, .radiant, cheerful “paying our debt of love” (cf. Rom. 13:8-10) to our fellow believers, that the world may be drawn to the One who “is love” (1 John 4:8). II. LOVE TOWARD THE JEW. Persecution and misery is Israel’s . portion ‘on almost every hand today, but let there be a “love in action” on the part of every child of God, a real love for His chosen people, remem bering God’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:3), Isaac (Gen. 26:4),- and Jacob (Gen. 28:14). God’s blessing through them was for “all families of the earth.” It is our responsibility to take the gospel to Israel by word, actions, and printed page. Illus.: A Jewess in a southern town, tells of her childhood longing for that which satisfies; yet none of her play mates or their parents had ever seemed concerned that she walked in darkness.::She continued thus until, once when she was ill, a f r i e n d brought in numerous books for her to read, among them a Bible. She had never handled a Bible before. Read ing, she found Christ as Saviour, and she is now winning others. III. LOVE TOWARD THE “GREEKS” (Gentile unbelievers). In Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 22:37-39, .we have God’s command to love our neighbor. Continually our prayer is “America back to God,” and in our own small sphere we have a personal responsibility as "lights” in this world -(Matt. 5:14-16; 1 Thess. 5:5; Eph. 5:8) to shine arid bring light to those of family, friends, and neigh bors who arc in darkness. “We are the only Bible the careless world will read . . Thus runs a line in a well-- known bit of verse. Let us not forget our responsibility, even in days oi war, to our foreign “neighbors” who sit in darkness.
“His lamps are we . To shine where He shall say; And lamps are not for sunny rooms, Nor for the light of day; . But for the dark places of the earth, Where shame and wrong and crime have birth, And for the murky twilight gray, Where wandering sheep have gone astray, And where the lamp of faith grows dim., And souls are groping after Him. And as sometimes a fíame we see, Clear shining through the night So dark we cannot see the lamp— But only see the light,' So may we shine, His love the flame, That men may glorify His name.” —Annie Johnson Flint. For the Leoder An Oriental became interested in the Bible. “It reads good, but I’d like to see how it looks in deeds,” he said. Throughout a tiresome railway trip he watched a .woman who was re ported to be a, Christian. He felt that this would be a fair test of her re ligion, since rio one warned her that Christianity was on trial in her con duct. The ^observer saw many little acts of self-forgetfulness, considera tion, and good will which gave proof of a gracious inner life. As a conse- x quence he accepted Christ. As leader of the meeting, you may want to call for other testimonies along this line. JULY 19, 1942 t h e ' g a m b l i n g m e n a c e ^P roverbs 16:8; 26:18, 19; G alatians 5:16 to 6:9 By Norman G. Robbins Introduction The Christian world c o n d e m n s gambling as a tool of Satan, but very- few people are able to give a reason for their condemnation of this ever- increasing vice. Usually, when one thinks of gambling, he thinks of the pool hall or gambling boat which is the more well-known haunt of this vice. However, we desire to consider gambling as a whole—from mere “matching coins” to the gambling den —and to set forth reasons that show it is a tool of Satan. The Word of God teaches that man was originally placed on the earth in a perfect state and for the glory of his Maker (Rev. 4:11; Isa. 43:7). Through the sin of Adam, the whole human race has lost fellowship with God and has now entered into fulfill ing the lusts of the flesh, a program which of course leaves God out en tirely. Today there are two classes of people on the earth: one is “ of” the earth and without God,' while the
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The Greatest Need of Russians is spiritu al. -180 M illion s in and 40 m illion s ou tsid e the U. S. SI R. absolutely need “ the g lo rio u s G osp el o f the blessed G od.” Prisoners of War g ra te fu lly a ccep t the, Bread of Life. Refugees, .Orphans, Russian Jews in P o land, etc., need d a ily bread. W e send m on th ly su p p lies as fu n ds perm it. Russian Groups th ro u g h o u t th is con tin en t clam a n tly ch a llen g e us to p rovid e the G ospel in R ussian la n gu ag es. F u n ds u r g e n tly needed fo r - Russian Bibles, Evange lists, Relief. F u rth er in fo rm a tio n in “ T he F rie n d o f R u ssia n s” — sam p le fre e . Send, co rresp on d en ce and g ifts to Rev. F. J. Miles, International Secy., RUSSIAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, Inc., 1844 W. Monroe St., Room 2, Chicago, III. JULY 12, 1942 LOVE THYSELF LAST P hilippians 2 :3 ; 1 C orinthians 10:31-33 By Geraldine Hinole Introduction Selfishness is perhaps the common est and most subtle sin that besets the Christian. In 1 Corinthians 10:31-33, Paql’s life is cited as an example of the right use of Christian liberty, which allows no place for selfishness. Because of evidences of sin, the lives of the Corinthian Christians appeared no different than those of their un saved neighbors, and these believers were therefore stumblingblocks. In following out the slogan, "love thyself last,” there need be no con scious effort to love ourselves at all, but rather to center our love on the Lord and others, leaving no time for selfish thinking (Matt. 22:37-39; Mk. 12:30, 31). Are you familiar with the recipe for JOY? It is this: ‘‘Jesus first, Others second1, Yourself last!”
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